Seeing the white light gradually spreading over his beloved partner's body, Silas was momentarily stunned.
"This is... synthesis?"
He was certain — even though he had only taken a quick glance that on the skill panel Zero displayed after the evolution, Serperior hadn't just learned this move.
Otherwise, he definitely wouldn't have left it unused during battle.
And for Serperior, this move wasn't one that could be easily mastered.
That it suddenly learned it now left him a bit surprised.
Although Serperior's species advantage allowed it to enhance solar energy within its body, converting that sunlight into healing energy was still somewhat troublesome for it.
Unlike Pokémon such as Venusaur, Exeggutor, or Meganium, which all have very pronounced plant-like features that allow them to easily convert energy through synthesis, Serperior's body lacks the additional plant organs needed to make the process simple.
So learning it just by walking around in the sun... that was truly difficult to explain.
Still, it was a good thing.
Watching the wounds on Serperior's body gradually disappear, Silas fondly stroked its head.
"Ser~"
Serperior squinted its eyes in comfort, rubbing its head against him.
Its usual proud and aloof demeanor was completely gone only when it was alone with its Trainer did Serperior ever show such a different side.
Before long, the two arrived at the Pokémon Center.
"It evolved, huh? Congratulations," said Nurse Joy, smiling warmly at Silas and his Serperior.
"Chansey~!"
Her Chansey clapped its hands beside her.
"Then I'll leave it to you for recovery and examination, Nurse Joy."
Silas handed over Serperior's Luxury Ball.
Serperior obediently raised its tail and tapped the ball's button, turning into red light and returning inside.
"It seems you and it have quite the bond," Nurse Joy said, nodding approvingly.
After all, for a proud Pokémon like Serperior, willingly returning to its Poké Ball was a rare sight.
Let alone doing it so obediently.
She had seen plenty of mischievous or arrogant Pokémon that refused to go back into their Poké Balls.
"Please wait for a while."
"Chansey~!"
With Nurse Joy and Chansey's words, Silas walked aside and sat down.
A familiar pale-blue interface appeared before his eyes.
[Serperior]
Classification: Royal Pokémon
Type: Grass
Height: 4.0 m (average: 3.3 m)
Weight: 75 kg (average: 63 kg)
Ability: Overgrow (omitted details)
Moves: Leaf Blade, Giga Drain, Swagger, Dragon Tail, Iron Tail, Work Up, Light Screen, synthesis
Level: 39 (Advanced)
Potential: Quasi-Champion
Training Plan:
1. Gliding Movement Training: custom terrain layout as shown in the diagram; goal completion time: under 5 minutes. Recommended light meal & massage mix: 50g of Tamato Nectar + 20g of Kasib Mint, with one Tamato Berry. Massage at the point between the second and third leaf from the tail tip.
2. Vine Whip Reinforcement: current vine strength is about 1.62× that of wild counterparts; goal is 2× and maintained. Recommended diet: [omitted].
3. Tail Muscle Enhancement: (to be combined with Plan 1) Detected slight Dragon-type energy in Serperior's body. Flexible tail strikes can serve as an emergency response in close combat. Daily slap training increased from 40 min to 1 hour. Change of striking target and recommended diet as follows: [omitted].
4. Aura Training: maintain daily meditation; visualization content as follows: [omitted].
5. Solar Energy Absorption and Strengthening.
6. [Omitted.]
---
The training plan was densely packed with information, but Silas didn't read it in detail — after all, this was basically the plan he himself had designed earlier.
And Serperior wasn't the only one.
Every Pokémon that evolved into its final form had a carefully tailored training and development plan — each one extremely complex.
It was just that during travel, he often only sorted the plan after evolution.
Unlike Serperior, for which he had already prepared a complete framework long ago — now he just needed to adjust it slightly based on the updated data.
A small smile curled at Silas's lips.
"Royal Pokémon" — that classification really did suit Serperior perfectly.
He recalled Professor Oak's description of Serperior
"Pride incarnate."
That single word "pride" was exactly what described Serperior to a T.
The body size, however, was a little beyond Silas's expectations.
Back when it was a Servine, Serperior hadn't shown such a drastic difference compared to its peers.
The weight was understandable — after all that food, the energy had to go somewhere; it couldn't just grow stronger without gaining body mass.
And, well, Pokémon weights have always been a mystery — what that number really represents is debatable.
But a body length of four meters was an impressive figure.
When standing upright in its normal posture, only about 40% of that length was above ground — roughly 1.6 meters about shoulder height to Silas.
If Serperior stretched its entire body out and stood with its tail vertically on the ground, it'd be taller than most one-story buildings.
Silas quickly shook his head to clear away that strange mental image.
He'd been in battle too long, maybe he was a bit out of it mentally.
As for moves, the expected ones were Leaf Blade, Giga Drain, and Swagger.
Synthesis he'd already noted earlier.
Among the remaining ones, Dragon Tail caught his attention first. As for Iron Tail, it was probably learned alongside Dragon Tail — nothing surprising there.
After all, serpentine Pokémon have always shared some similarities with dragons, so learning Dragon Tail was reasonable.
Still, the fact it could learn Dragon Tail meant it also had potential to master Dragon Pulse or even Outrage. Silas thought he might explore that direction later.
Leaving two powerful moves unlearned wasn't his style.
Though Outrage's energy requirements were probably a bit high... he rubbed his chin, realizing this would likely be another hefty expense.
"Anything involving dragons," he sighed internally, "is never cheap."
Work Up and Light Screen were both strategically important — one boosted physical and special attack, while the other provided protection against special attacks.
Combined with Serperior's other skills, the next phase of training was definitely necessary.
Silas tapped his finger lightly on the chair's armrest, mentally revising Serperior's future training schedule using the framework Zero had generated.
Zero was, after all, just a mechanical analysis system it could only list possibilities.
If followed too rigidly, Serperior might collapse before reaching its goals.
Even forty-eight hours a day wouldn't be enough for that kind of training and recovery.
"Serperior has finished recovering!"
Nurse Joy's voice brought him back to reality.
Time passed unknowingly before Nurse Joy's voice reached Silas's ears.
He instinctively stood up, walked to the counter, took back his Luxury Ball, thanked her politely, and turned to leave — his movements smooth and practiced.
Nurse Joy smiled helplessly.
"He's probably already thinking about the next stage of training again, huh? Trainers, honestly…"
She sighed softly, while her Chansey beside her chuckled along with her.
"The child is in great condition, but remember — training should be done in moderation~!"
Nurse Joy called out her final reminder of the day as Silas walked away.
He nodded in response, though it was unclear whether he actually heard her.
When Silas returned to his rented private training field, his five Pokémon were still hard at work, sweat gleaming under the setting sun.
Only then did Silas snap back to reality.
Luckily, there weren't many people along the way and thanks to his own reflexes from martial arts training, he'd managed to dodge several close calls.
If he had bumped into anyone, it would've been bad.
"Alright everyone, take a break — it's time to eat."
Silas released Serperior, then took out various utensils and cooking ingredients from his backpack, preparing dinner as usual.
The five smaller Pokémon looked at the elegant, regal Serperior curiously.
It looked… familiar.
Wasn't this the same Pokémon that used to be Servine just this morning?
They couldn't help but think: That's some ridiculous progress.
Serperior lifted its head proudly — like one of those aloof male leads or haughty rivals from those cheesy romance dramas in another life.
But Togetic didn't care one bit.
It floated right up to perch atop Serperior's head, staring curiously at the golden-green vine-like patterns running down its back.
Reaching out a small hand, Togetic tugged playfully at one of the leafy vines.
"Chuu~"
Serperior's eyes widened in irritation.
With a flick of its tail, it extended its Vine Whip, preparing to wrap Togetic tightly and give it a proper "lesson."
Togetic only giggled, darting left and right in the air.
Using the power of wind or rather, the flow of air itself it easily evaded Serperior's vines with nimble grace.
Meanwhile, Flaaffy wandered over to inspect Serperior's tail.
It stared at the long, tapering end of the serpent's body, then glanced at the small round orb of wool on its own tail… and fell into deep contemplation.
"Blaziken~!"
"Pidgeot~!"
"Gigalith!"
The other three Pokémon each offered their own greetings and congratulations.
Serperior flicked its tail proudly, excitedly recounting the events of the morning
Eighteen consecutive victories!
Wasn't that worth bragging about?
Silas simply smiled, watching his team playfully chatter around him.
But soon enough, the training field was filled with his exasperated voice once again.
"Hey! Togetic, don't sneak food! No snacks before dinner!"
"Flaaffy~!"
"What, you want to battle too? We'll do that once you evolve into an Ampharos, alright?"
"Pidgeot!"
"Pidgeot! You're way too old to still be picky! Eat that now — you can't just skip food because it's spicy!"
"Pidgeot!"
Even worse, the Pokémon who weren't being scolded were whispering and fanning the flames from the sidelines.
Compared to this, Silas thought, commanding eighteen battles in a row this morning wasn't tiring at all.
After a noisy hour of eating and chatter, the sounds of training resumed the dull rhythm of strikes, the cries of Pokémon, and Silas's calm, steady voice giving directions.
Time passed by the minute, the second.
By ten o'clock that night, all the Pokémon were sprawled across the room — even the fully grown Serperior, which could no longer fit on the bed, had to curl up on the sofa.
Silas had to spend quite some time soothing it before it finally accepted this new "bed."
He lay down on his own bed, exhausted, and closed his eyes.
The first day in the tournament's Trainer village had come and gone in the blink of an eye.
He wondered vaguely what the days to come would bring.